Needless to say that I hadn't heard about this 2017 Russian horror movie titled "Vurdalaki" (aka "Ghouls" or "Vamps") prior to now at the end of 2022, as I happened to stumble upon the movie by random luck. And with it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to give it a go.
Writers Aleksey Karaulov, Evgeny Kolyadintsev, Tikhon Kornev and Aleksey Timm didn't exactly bedazzle me with the script and storyline for this movie. In fact, the script was rather mundane and simplistic, almost to the point where it was unwatchable. I am impressed, however, that four writers could collectively come up with absolutely nothing worthwhile.
The synopsis for "Vurdalaki" sounded interesting and I was initially lured into picking up the movie given its cover, which I found interesting. Ultimately, then the movie's cover was actually, and sadly so, the best part about the entire ordeal.
With my limited exposure to Russian cinema, then of course I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. However, I can't say that I was impressed with what I was witnessing on the screen. Not that the acting performances were bad per se, but the actors and actresses just had nothing to work with in terms of a functioning script or interesting characters.
For a horror movie then "Vurdalaki" was a swing and a miss. And this is not a movie I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on, some of us did so you don't have to.
And "Vurdalaki" couldn't even boast having impressive special effects. So there was no points to be had there in order to alleviate the shortcomings of the subpar script.
My rating of director Sergey Ginzburg's 2017 movie lands on a two out of ten stars.
Writers Aleksey Karaulov, Evgeny Kolyadintsev, Tikhon Kornev and Aleksey Timm didn't exactly bedazzle me with the script and storyline for this movie. In fact, the script was rather mundane and simplistic, almost to the point where it was unwatchable. I am impressed, however, that four writers could collectively come up with absolutely nothing worthwhile.
The synopsis for "Vurdalaki" sounded interesting and I was initially lured into picking up the movie given its cover, which I found interesting. Ultimately, then the movie's cover was actually, and sadly so, the best part about the entire ordeal.
With my limited exposure to Russian cinema, then of course I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. However, I can't say that I was impressed with what I was witnessing on the screen. Not that the acting performances were bad per se, but the actors and actresses just had nothing to work with in terms of a functioning script or interesting characters.
For a horror movie then "Vurdalaki" was a swing and a miss. And this is not a movie I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on, some of us did so you don't have to.
And "Vurdalaki" couldn't even boast having impressive special effects. So there was no points to be had there in order to alleviate the shortcomings of the subpar script.
My rating of director Sergey Ginzburg's 2017 movie lands on a two out of ten stars.